The Race to the Big League

watman · 10-02-2008 02:37AM #1

Not seen a thread on the race to the premiership as of yet and i know their are many fellow supporters of non premier league clubs back in ireland. 15 games to go who do you reckon are going up. Its looking like the relegated sides will not all go straight back up

OPENROAD · 10-02-2008 02:43AM

I hope Stoke go up as Champions as I backed them at the start of the season, Bristol City are also looking good at the moment. Watford and West Brom are the favs I suppose.

watman · 10-02-2008 03:05AM

Well i for one (been a season ticket holder at stoke) hope you win that bet

Serioiusly though Wolves in 12th 2 points off playoffs - I agree Watford , West Brom will be two of the six in contention come the end but I think there will be a dowie-esque late runner when he took palace from 19th at chrimbo to the playoffs - maybe this season it could be QPR.

OPENROAD · 10-02-2008 03:11AM

Im an Arsenal supporter but for some reason have always had a soft spot for QPR, so would love to see them go up, what is great about the championship at the moment is that so many teams still have a chance of getting a play off spot.

eirebhoy · 10-02-2008 02:24PM

Ipswich are the team we should be cheering for. Garvan, Bruce, Clarke, Supple, Walters, Quinn, Lee and Norris all playing for them. Quinn and Lee are internationals that may not get a chance to play for us again but the rest are all potential Ireland players. Not to mention Nick Colgan.

SantryRed · 10-02-2008 05:57PM

eirebhoy wrote: »

Ipswich are the team we should be cheering for. Garvan, Bruce, Clarke, Supple, Walters, Quinn, Lee and Norris all playing for them. Quinn and Lee are internationals that may not get a chance to play for us again but the rest are all potential Ireland players. Not to mention Nick Colgan.

We ended there unbeaten home run yesterday:p

I think Watford are going to pull away again to be honest. They were nine points clear at one point in October and I think now that we've ended our hoodoo at home, I think we'll pull away again from the pack.

Jonny Arson · 10-02-2008 06:08PM

fascinating stuff (again!) this season in Coca League, far more interesting and exciting than the Premiership

all of the current top 5 are good enough to go up but looking at West Brom's and Watford's squads it would take a brave man to bet against both of them going up. Bristol City and Stoke have had sensational seasons, i do think they've punched above their weight but it's February and they are still there and there is no sign of them dropping off, yet. As for Charlton, they got a great win over flying Palace on Friday and you can't rule them out going straight back up but losing Andy Reid is a huge huge blow for them. as for the play-offs, no point in predicting the unpredictable, Southampton as far as 18th are only 7 points of that 6th spot so it's all for grabs, that will be fascinating. for relegation, its 3 from Scunthorpe, Sheff Wed, Colchester and Preston for me but Coventry are looking like they're on a worrying downhill slope

i haven't kept my eye on leagues 1 and 2 much apart from the great goals on goals on sunday but i think the most interesting story to look out for is Leeds' sudden decline from their early season dominance, its a big possibility they wont even make the playoffs and have to spend another season rotting in that league

estebancambias · 10-02-2008 06:13PM

I would love Ipswich to go up.

SantryRed · 10-02-2008 09:50PM

estebancambias wrote: »

I would love Ipswich to go up.

It's there away form that's troubling them. They only won their first away game of the season last week.
How they get on in the rest of their away games will make or break their season.

OPENROAD · 10-02-2008 09:54PM

Anyone think QPR can make the play offs.

mike65 · 10-02-2008 10:02PM

Its looking like an even closer competition last last season. The points spread from 6th to 19th is 10 points which is mad.

Mike.

SantryRed · 10-02-2008 10:37PM

OPENROAD wrote: »

Anyone think QPR can make the play offs.

They have a chance with the run there on at the moment.

The run has to end some time and I just wonder if that will effect them and see them go off the boil for a few games.

SantryRed · 10-02-2008 10:49PM

Norwich will go up through the play offs IMO.

Glenn Roeder has worked meracles with the team, when he was appointed they were in the relegation zone, now there 4 points off the play offs.

Green Giant · 11-02-2008 11:15AM

West Brom and Watford for automatic promotion and possibly Crystal Palace through play-offs

My pre-season tip for Southampton looks more misguided by the week :rolleyes:

chopperbyrne · 11-02-2008 11:45AM

Unfortunately I think our FA Cup run will hurt us in the long run (unless we win it and are in Europe next season!).

I still think we'll go up, but I'd rather go up as Champions than runners up.

I never fancy our chances in the playoffs, we always seem to choke.

Edit: By we I mean West Brom.

watman · 22-02-2008 08:02PM

Big signing today with West Brom getting Luke Moore on loan til the end of the season with a view to a permanent deal . Should do very well at championship level .Watford . Bristol City and West Brom should all come through their games unscathed so Tomorrow - Big day for us (stoke city) as we take on 6th place Ipswich Town and bid to keep our top spot for another while.

OPENROAD · 22-02-2008 08:26PM

watman wrote: »

- Big day for us (stoke city) as we take on 6th place Ipswich Town and bid to keep our top spot for another while.

Hopefully for the rest of the season, 10 Euro on at 28/1

SantryRed · 08-03-2008 11:28PM

Pos Team P F A GD Pts
1 Bristol City 37 45 42 3 66
2 Stoke City 37 60 49 11 63
3 Watford 36 57 43 14 62
4 West Brom 35 71 42 29 61
5 Charlton Athletic 37 53 44 9 56
6 Hull City 36 46 39 7 56
7 Plymouth Argyle 37 49 38 11 55
8 Ipswich Town 36 53 44 9 53
9 Crystal Palace 37 41 36 5 53
10 Burnley 37 50 49 1 52

That's the way the top 10 looks at the minute.
This race is really hotting up now as your guaranteed that at least one of the top 4 will drop points each week.
No doubt this is going down to the wire.

Stoke are on a bit of a bad run at the minute drawing today and losing the other two before that.

My team Watford just wont put teams away and keep letting in late goals:mad:

Still think ourselves and West Brom will go up just because we've both done it before.

Mr. Presentable · 08-03-2008 11:31PM

SantryRed wrote: »

Pos Team P F A GD Pts
1 Bristol City 37 45 42 3 66
2 Stoke City 37 60 49 11 63
3 Watford 36 57 43 14 62
4 West Brom 35 71 42 29 61
5 Charlton Athletic 37 53 44 9 56
6 Hull City 36 46 39 7 56
7 Plymouth Argyle 37 49 38 11 55
8 Ipswich Town 36 53 44 9 53
9 Crystal Palace 37 41 36 5 53
10 Burnley 37 50 49 1 52

Now that's a proper competition.

Melion · 08-03-2008 11:31PM

I think it would be a disaster if Bristol City go up, they would be embarassed next year. Nothing against the team or place(my mother was born there so i do check their scores every weekend) but i think they'd be just as bad as Derby in the premier league

Jonny Arson · 08-03-2008 11:50PM

Melion wrote: »

I think it would be a disaster if Bristol City go up, they would be embarassed next year. Nothing against the team or place(my mother was born there so i do check their scores every weekend) but i think they'd be just as bad as Derby in the premier league

i agree with that, i think Stoke would struggle badly in the PL too, neither have anything close to serious cash behind them to improve their squads but they could be prime targets for a relatively cheap takeover by millionaires if either goes up. Watford and West Brom for me are best placed both on and off the field to survive in the PL next season.

SantryRed · 08-03-2008 11:55PM

Melion wrote: »

I think it would be a disaster if Bristol City go up, they would be embarassed next year. Nothing against the team or place(my mother was born there so i do check their scores every weekend) but i think they'd be just as bad as Derby in the premier league

To be honest, I don't think they will go up. They've been on a fantastic run since around Christmas but I think they'll be like Stoke have been in there past 3 games.

Once they lose a game or two in quick succession, I think they will struggle to get back to winning ways.
Watford had that in their home form when we didn't win a home game in about 10, but the away form kept us up there.

Watford,West Brom and Charlton to go up for me.

watman · 12-03-2008 04:36PM

A vital win last night at carrow road to get our campaign back on track after what can only be described as a major wobble. Only plus side was we got some suspensions out of the way. Saturday against Watford is probably our biggest six pointer in about twenty years.
Also i reckon both stoke and bristol city would be better in the premiership than derby have been this season. In Fact derby were not even a great championship team last season if you look at their record against the top 8 sides last season it wasnt exactly wonderful but they won the games against the bottom sides to get promoted

Pigman II · 12-03-2008 04:57PM

eirebhoy wrote: »

Ipswich are the team we should be cheering for. Garvan, Bruce, Clarke, Supple, Walters, Quinn, Lee and Norris all playing for them. Quinn and Lee are internationals that may not get a chance to play for us again but the rest are all potential Ireland players. Not to mention Nick Colgan.

If they were good enough they'd be in the premiership anyway. Also I don't agree with supporting a club just cos it's full of Irish. It's half the reason ManU and Liverpool have captured the public imagination in this country at the expense of the domestic game.

Besides whats to say if Ipswich get promoted they don't offload some/most of these players anyway?

SantryRed · 12-03-2008 05:19PM

watman wrote: »

A vital win last night at carrow road to get our campaign back on track after what can only be described as a major wobble. Only plus side was we got some suspensions out of the way. Saturday against Watford is probably our biggest six pointer in about twenty years.
Also i reckon both stoke and bristol city would be better in the premiership than derby have been this season. In Fact derby were not even a great championship team last season if you look at their record against the top 8 sides last season it wasnt exactly wonderful but they won the games against the bottom sides to get promoted

We were very unlucky last night I was told.

On top of Henderson's peno miss, O'toole missed a good chance at the very end.

Your right about Saturday, it's a massive game. Sky aren't showing a Saturday evening game.

Tht would of been a dead cert.:mad:

eirebhoy · 12-03-2008 07:15PM

Pigman II wrote: »

If they were good enough they'd be in the premiership anyway.

I don't know. I'd say there's a few players of say Reading who might never have been given a chance in the premiership if they didn't get promoted.

Jonny Arson · 30-03-2008 01:59PM

seriously, what a bloody incredible season the Championship has been so far, still five teams who go up for the automatic spots, its certainly going all the way down to last day. Bristol City, West Brom and Wolves all won with last minutes goal yesterday, Hull beat Watford 3-0 to continue their incredible form of late to give them are real shot of going up. its too tight to call between the top 5 especially with games in hand for West Brom and Watford.
all teams as far down as 12th to Cardiff can still finish in the play-off spots too!

League Table
Pos Name P W D L F A GD PTS
1 Bristol City 41 19 13 9 49 47 2 70
2 Stoke City 41 18 15 8 63 51 12 69
3 Hull City 41 19 11 11 59 41 18 68
4 WBA 39 19 9 11 78 51 27 66
5 Watford 40 17 14 9 58 47 11 65
6 Wolves 40 16 13 11 47 45 2 61
7 Ipswich Town 40 16 12 12 58 49 9 60
8 Plymouth 41 16 11 14 53 44 9 59
9 Crystal Palace 41 14 17 10 46 39 7 59
10 Burnley 41 15 13 13 55 55 0 58
11 Charlton 41 15 12 14 56 51 5 57
12 Cardiff City 39 14 13 12 47 44 3 55

Peyton Manning · 30-03-2008 02:05PM

Sylvain Ebanks-Blake's second goal for Wolves yesterday was incredible. You can tell he was a United lad

Jonny Arson · 30-03-2008 02:09PM

aye, what a brilliant goal that was from him, utter class no matter what level its at.

SantryRed · 30-03-2008 05:28PM

Absolutely terrible day for us yesterday.
Them two mised penos by Henderson in the nil all draws against Stoke and Bristol last week look like there going to prove vital.

We have four home games and two away games left. The big one being away to WBA on the 12th. The way we're going I think the play offs look the most likely, and if we do go up we will need to spend most of our budget on a striker who will score goals, not like Ellington.

Green Giant · 31-03-2008 10:36AM

Anyone see the Charlton-Wolves game on Saturday evening? One of the best matches I've watched in a long time

The Race to the Big League

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